12th Army Group
12th Army Group |
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12th Army Group shoulder badge |
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active | July 14, 1944 to August 1, 1945 |
Country | United States and allies |
Armed forces | US armed forces |
Armed forces | Army |
Type | Army Group |
Wars | Second World War |
Supreme command | |
Commander in chief | Omar N. Bradley |
Chief of Staff | Leven C. Allen |
The 12th Army Group ( German 12th US Army Group ) was a large unit ( Army Group Command ) of the Western Allies in World War II , which was active in 1944 and 1945. It was under US leadership and, with up to 1.3 million soldiers, was the largest army unit in American history.
history
During the preparation for Operation Overlord , the Allies decided to place the participating armies of the US armed forces under an American high command after the first phase of operations (carried out by the British 21st Army Group ) on the continent. For this purpose, the 1st US Army Group (FUSAG) was formed in October 1943 under General Omar N. Bradley , who also led the 1st US Army . On July 14, 1944, the 12th Army Group was activated under Bradley in the United Kingdom, which took over the FUSAG subordinate units with a few exceptions. FUSAG continued to exist without subordinate associations. This measure ( Operation Quicksilver ) was intended to simulate the existence of another US Army Group in Great Britain and to leave the German leadership in the dark about a possible second landing on the continent.
The 12th Army Group took control of the 1st ( Courtney Hicks Hodges ) and 3rd US Army ( George S. Patton ) in France on August 1, 1944 . Your Commander-in-Chief Bradley was initially subordinate to the head of ground operations for Operation Overlord, British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery , until the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force under Dwight D. Eisenhower took over operations on the continent in early September . The 12th Army Group was formed at that time the center of the Allied army groups on the Western Front after mid-August in southern France, the 6th Army Group ( Jacob L. Devers ) in the Operation Dragoon had landed. To the north, the 21st Army Group joined under Montgomery. The 12th Army Group was reinforced a little later by the 9th US Army ( William Hood Simpson ), which had previously been deployed in Brittany . In the period up to the German Ardennes offensive in the winter of 1944/45, the armies of the Army Group took part in the battles on and in front of the Western Wall (including the battle in the Hürtgenwald , battle of Aachen , battles in Lorraine ).
As part of the defensive measures of the Bulge Offensive, the 9th US Army was temporarily subordinated to the 21st Army Group . In January 1945, the 15th US Army ( Leonard T. Gerow ) was assigned to the 12th Army Group . In February 1945 the troops of the Army Group broke through the Siegfried Line, started to cross the Rhine in March and closed the Ruhr basin at the beginning of April . By the end of the war, the troops of the Army Group had reached the Elbe and occupied parts of Austria and Czechoslovakia.
On July 31, control of US forces in Europe was transferred to the newly formed US Forces headquarters , European Theater (USFET), and the 12th Army Group was disbanded the following day.
Outline in May 1945
- 12th Army Group ( Omar N. Bradley )
Order of battle on May 8, 1945
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12th Army Group - General Omar N. Bradley
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First Army - General Courtney H. Hodges
- 78th Infantry Division - Major General Edwin P. Parker
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VII Corps - Lieutenant General J. Lawton Collins
- 9th Infantry Division - Major General Louis A. Craig
- 69th Infantry Division - Major General Emil F. Reinhardt
- 104th Infantry Division - Major General Terry de la Mesa Allen, Sr.
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Third Army - General George S. Patton, Jr.
- 1st Infantry Division - Major General Clift Andrus
- 2nd Infantry Division - Major General Walter M. Robertson
- 9th Armored Division - Major General John W. Leonard
- 70th Infantry Division - Major General Allison J. Barnett
- 97th Infantry Division - Brigadier General Milton B. Halsey
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III Corps - Major General James Van Fleet
- 4th Infantry Division - Major General Harold W. Blakeley
- 14th Armored Division - Major General Albert C. Smith
- 99th Infantry Division - Major General Walter E. Lauer
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V Corps - Major General Clarence R. Huebner
- 16th Armored Division - Brigadier General John L. Pierce
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XII Corps - Major General Stafford LeRoy Irwin
- 4th Armored Division - Major General William M. Hoge
- 5th Infantry Division - Major General Albert E. Brown
- 11th Armored Division - Major General Holmes E. Dager
- 26th Infantry Division - Major General Willard S. Paul
- 90th Infantry Division - Major General Herbert L. Earnest
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XX Corps - Major General Walton H. Walker
- 13th Armored Division - Major General John Millikin
- 65th Infantry Division - Major General Stanley E. Reinhart
- 71st Infantry Division - Major General Willard G. Wyman
- 80th Infantry Division - Major General Horace L. McBride
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Ninth Army - Lieutenant General William H. Simpson
- 2nd Armored Division - Major General Isaac D. White
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VIII Corps - Major General Troy H. Middleton
- 6th Armored Division - Major General Robert W. Grow
- 76th Infantry Division - Major General William R. Schmidt
- 87th Infantry Division - Major General Frank L. Cullin, Jr.
- 89th Infantry Division - Major General Thomas D. Finley
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XIII Corps - Major General Alvan C. Gillem, Jr.
- 30th Infantry Division - Major General Leland S. Hobbs
- 35th Infantry Division - Major General Paul W. Baade
- 83rd Infantry Division - Major General Robert C. Macon
- 84th Infantry Division - Major General Alexander R. Bolling
- 102nd Infantry Division - Major General Frank A. Keating
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XVI Corps - Major General John B. Anderson
- 29th Infantry Division - Major General Charles H. Gerhardt
- 75th Infantry Division - Major General Ray E. Porter
- 79th Infantry Division - Major General Ira T. Wyche
- 95th Infantry Division - Major General Harry L. Tawddle
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XIX Corps - Major General Raymond S. McLain
- 3rd Armored Division - Brigadier General Doyle O. Hickey
- 8th Armored Division - Major General John M. Devine
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Fifteenth Army - Lieutenant General Leonard T. Gerow
- 66th Infantry Division - Major General Herman F. Kramer
- 106th Infantry Division - Major General Donald A. Stroh
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XVIII Airborne Corps - Major General Matthew B. Ridgway
- 5th Armored Division - Major General Lunsford E. Oliver
- 7th Armored Division - Major General Robert W. Hasbrouck
- 8th Infantry Division - Major General Bryant E. Moore
- 82nd Airborne Division - Major General James M. Gavin
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XXII Corps - Major General Ernest N. Harmon
- 17th Airborne Division - Major General William M. Miley
- 94th Infantry Division - Major General Harry J. Malony
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XXIII Corps - Major General Hugh J. Gaffey
- 28th Infantry Division - Major General Norman D. Cota
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First Army - General Courtney H. Hodges
literature
- Headquarters 12th Army Group (Final After Action Report), Volume 1.
Individual evidence
- ^ Forrest C. Pogue: The Supreme Command. Appendix D: Forces Under SHAEF, 1944-45 .
- ↑ Omar Bradley : A Soldier's Story. New York: Henry Holt and Company (1950), pp. 557-561.